A bona fide leader and champion of responsibly harvested wood, Don Finkell has made an indelible mark on the hardwood industry. Announcing his retirement from Anderson Hardwood Floors last month, he was quickly elected chairman of the board of the Hardwood Federation — a role that will allow him to continue his work to make the industry successful, sustainable and environmentally responsible.

“Don Finkell is the ‘reluctant hero’ of the hardwood flooring industry advancing the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA), championing the ‘green’ movement and now the leading voice of hardwood in Washington D.C. Now there is a legacy packed with pride, professionalism and unselfish dedication,” said Ed Korczak, former executive director of the NWFA. Finkell served in many capacities, including president at the NWFA and worked closely with Korczak during that period.

Throughout his career, Finkell has been an advocate and facilitator of significant improvements in the hardwood industry from government regulations to product recognition. Finkell has been a part of it all.

“Don is an absolute icon of the industry and a true pioneer,” said Dan Natkin, Mannington’s director of wood and laminate business, citing all of his work on the Lacey Act and as a champion for U.S. manufacturing. Natkin worked closely with Finkell as part of the Coalition for Hardwood Parity (CAHP) which brought the International Trade Commission (ITC) case against Chinese imports of engineered wood in 2010.

For the ITC ruling, Finkell explained, an investigation was conducted in 2007, and with help from the Senate Finance Committee, a study was done on the competitive activity of five countries — China included.

“The results from that findings mission showed there was a dramatic shift to China from other countries, including the U.S. There were findings in that study that indicated that there would be basis for action against China. You see China going from being almost no significant factor in the U.S. market 10 years ago to more than 50 percent of the market today, and that is a dramatic increase,” said Finkell.

One of the most meaningful results from that case has been a shift to American manufacturing as importers grapple with the uncertainty surrounding purchasing floors from Chinese suppliers, as well as the possibility of retroactive tariffs that won’t be decided until this coming December.

As a champion of environmentally harvested wood, Finkell continues to be an influential voice for the Lacey Act and was instrumental in launching the NWFA’s Responsible Procurement Program (RPP).

Finkell said there are two reasons that environmental groups began to partner with the industry in regards to the Lacey Act. “One, they wanted to preserve the environment. Tropical deforestation around the world is a problem — it affects natural habitats and global warming. Two, from a business standpoint, it causes an un-level playing field in America. We have a good record of environmental stewardship and a ‘rule of law’ prevails but in other parts of the world, that is not the case. People in a position of power, or those who initiate the buying of timber, can essentially steal, and it’s hard to compete with that because the actual raw material is the single biggest cost of a wood floor,” explained Finkell.

As the new chairman of the Hardwood Federation, Finkell has clear goals. The biggest, he said, is to expand company and association support within the hardwood industry.

“We want to continue to monitor government activity on the regulatory side. There’s a whole slew of regulation being talked about that could possibly harm the hardwood industry. The Federation does good work on behalf of the industry and everyone benefits from the work they do, but not everyone supports it. We do get good support from the wood flooring members but from some associations we don’t get as much support. We want to increase the visibility of the Federation. The more support we have, the more we can do in Washington,” said Finkell.

Part of what he hopes to accomplish in Washington is to change the regulations regarding the supply of hardwood and how it is harvested. Citing missed revenue for the government, lots of red tape for suppliers and the overall health of federally owned forests, Finkell wants to see more harvesting from federally owned forests.

“There was a time when federal forests were the prime suppliers of timber and now they are almost insignificant. We’re aiming to get them to be more active,” added Finkell.

As part of his effort to help educate the industry about environmental issues, Anderson and Finkell sponsored the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at Surfaces 2010 so that the agency could field industry questions regarding responsible harvesting, chain of custody and other Lacey-related issues.

“Don has been instrumental in many areas of the industry and association. Considered a technology and product development innovator at Anderson and Shaw, Don was also very generous in lending his leadership skills to the environmental area in particular for NWFA. From the creation of the NWFA Responsible Procurement Program, which required the coordination of multiple environmental groups, to speaking on our behalf at forestry meetings, Don readily accepted any task given to him to help drive the industry forward,” said Michael Martin, executive director and CEO, NWFA.

Anderson

In his long tenure as president of Anderson, Finkell is credited with everything from getting retailers to help select the company’s newest products, through its ClubNext program that encourages customers to vote for the best of new product prototypes, to developing new and innovative finishes that changed the way the industry and consumers thought about pre-finished hardwood flooring.

“Don almost single handedly created the factory finished handscraped category for engineered hardwood flooring,” offered Natkin.

Finkell explained, “When we came out with an aluminum oxide finish, we developed a finish that couldn’t be duplicated on the job site. There were people who previously felt that a pre-finished floor was not as good as a floor that was site finished but we proved that a pre-finished floor could be just as good. Also, from a design standpoint, I think we contributed to increasing the popularity of the handscrape look — we brought an obscure, niche product to the market as a household name.”

A major milestone in Anderson’s history was its acquisition by Shaw in 2007 which gave Anderson capabilities it did not have, particularly in the areas of improved product and technology. He also felt that Anderson needed the strength and clout of a larger supplier in order to more effectively compete in a changing market.

“Shaw has allowed for Anderson to invest in solid hardwood flooring plants. Anderson never really was a player in solids, and Shaw has brought that capability to the forefront,” he said.

The industry has changed dramatically over Finkell’s 30 plus years of stewardship. “When I first started, engineered wood was about 25 percent of the hardwood industry and wood was about 2 percent of the total flooring market. Now, engineered is over half of hardwood sales and I think wood flooring has grown to about 10 percent of flooring industry sales,” explained Finkell.

But the biggest and most lasting contributions — in everything from legally sourced wood from all over the world to maintaining the price competitiveness of U.S. suppliers, and from styling and finishes to new product development — may be the ones Don Finkell has himself brought to the industry.

“During his tenure at Anderson/Shaw Don worked continuously and tirelessly to create product that led the industry in innovation, style, quality and value. But, as is true with any great leader, Don not only worked on behalf of his company, he worked on behalf of the entire wood industry through his service with the National Wood Flooring Association and Hardwood Federation, as well as his leadership on the enactment of the Lacey Act for the wood industry. It is his collective body of work over the past three decades that has led to his recognition as the leader he is in the wood industry today,” said Shaw president Randy Merritt.